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The Learning Problem

Since the days of Dewey, education reformers in the United States and other parts of the world have aspired towards the goal of making the learning of science more authentic, closer to the practice of science (Edelson, 1998). As Dewey put it, “...science has been taught too much as an accumulation of ready-made material with which students are to be made familiar, not enough as a method of thinking, an attitude of mind, after the pattern of which mental habits are to be transformed” (Dewey, 1964). Unfortunately, even today, many approaches to the teaching of science have stressed memorizing and parroting the “content” of science, such as established scientific theories. School science is viewed as a propaedeutic activity to prepare students for university science (Roth & McGinn, 1997). As a result, for many topics taught in schools and colleges, there is evidence showing that students are often unable to meaningfully apply the knowledge they acquire in school (e.g., Caramazza, McCloskey & Green, 1981; Halloun & Hestenes, 1985). It seems that for all the effort put in to meet science standards and to keep up with test scores, science education has not adequately prepared students to live and think in this modern world of science and technology.

Developments in research on cognitive apprenticeship and situated learning (Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989; Lave & Wenger, 1991) have subsequently put a new spin on Dewey’s principles of “learning by doing” (Dewey, 1964). Complemented with a sociocultural view of learning (Vygotsky, 1978), advocators of science reform champion teaching approaches that are project- and inquiry-based discovery learning. Typically, project-based approaches stress the importance of learning the “process” of science, such as formulating questions that can be investigated empirically, and supporting scientific claims with evidence. The goal of providing students with the means to engage in scientific practice is to enable them to acquire a body of scientific knowledge that is integrated with an understanding of science knowledge, techniques, attitudes, tools, and social interaction - essentially situating the learning of science in the practice of science. (O’Neill & Polman, 2004)

Although the rationale for the implementation of project-based inquiry learning approaches for science teaching is strong, actual implementation in the school context paints a different picture. Polman (2000) described the problems faced by students, teachers and school administrators when such approaches are brought into the classroom. He described case studies highlighting aspects of school culture (for example, ambiguity of practices, differing epistemologies, teachers’ lack of time), which hindered the successful implementation of project-based approaches. Furthermore, Hammer (1997) describes a detailed account of a week of discovery learning and instruction from the author's high school physics course. He highlights the tension between progressive objectives of engaging students in their own "scientific inquiry" and traditional objectives of "covering the content." From the details of the case study, it is apparent that there was a fundamental disconnect between expectations and the realities of practice. In the face of time and resource constraints, one wonders whether it is realistically possible to implement discovery and inquiry-based learning in its true essence in the classroom without compromising on content coverage.

Work Done in Addresing the Problem Using Technology
With advancements in technology, education reformers have sought to explore the use of technology to mediate and address these issues. For example, research done by Linn (1992) indicates that computers can serve as effective learning partners. This research showed that computers used to collect and display data can challenge students to interpret the data. Computer networks are effective at communicating information to students, in turn helping students be effective interpreter and analysts of this information. This points to the potential use of computers as data representational tools through which educators can challenge students in the learning of science.

Research done by Pea (2002) reported on the Learning through Collaborative Visualization, or CoVis project, which was a heavily funded endeavor to “design, implement and research the promises and problems of a distributed multimedia science learning environment that used broadband desktop videoconferencing and screen sharing, scientific visualization tools and distributed datasets, virtual field trips, scientist tele-mentoring, and a Collaboratory Notebook for enabling project-based learning of science in the high school.” In contrast to learning-before-doing— the model of most educational settings—he advocated learning-in-doing, where learners were increasingly involved in the authentic practices of communities through learning conversations and activities involving expert practitioners, educators and peers.

The CoVis project provided a broad range of lessons for how situated authentic science learning may be effectively supported through the uses of learner-centered collaboration technologies and scientific visualization tools (Pea, 2002). With the emergence of Web 2.0, the open source software revolution, and ubiquitous mobile technology, one wonders if the vision of CoVis and other similar projects like LabNet (Ruopp, Gal, Drayton & Pfister, 1993), Kids as Global Scientists (Songer, 1996), and Global Lab (Feldman, Konold & Coulter, 2000) can be achieved on a faster, much less resource-intensive, yet authentic manner to render the approach both scalable and sustainable.

Intrigued? Read our Proposal (pdf) for more about learning goals, theory, and rationale.